THE SEA SERPENTS. 449 



152. THE DEAL-FISH FAMILY— TRACHYPTERIDiE. 



The members of this family are found in the deep parts of the sea in various parts of the 

 world, though none have yet been found on our Atlantic coast. They are eel-shaped fishes of 

 great length and brilliant colors, and have even been described under the naine of " Sea-serpent." 

 It is probable that most of the stories regarding the "sea-serpent" have had reference to some 

 member of this family, and to this family most of the descriptions of large marine animals of a 

 serpent-like nature are very applicable. Several individuals of the species known as the "Gar- 

 fish," Eegaleous Bamikm, have been cast up on the British coast, the largest in Yorkshire, in 1845, 

 twenty-four feet in length. In 1860, an individual, eighteen feet in length, ran ashore at the 

 Bermudas, but none have been found in the more western portions of the Atlantic, although 

 descriptions which have been given by various observers would indicate that they occasionally 

 appear near our shores. On the Pacific coast there is a species which is sometimes cast ashore by 

 the storms, Trachypterus altiveUs; it is considered by the Makah Indians to be the King of the 

 salmons, and they will permit no one to eat the flesh upon any condition, for fear the salmon will 

 never return. It is curious that a similar tradition exists on the coast of Norway regarding a 

 related species which is called the " Sillkung," or " King of the herring." " The same notion," says 

 Jordan, " is commemorated in the generic name Begalecus," ^ 



153. THE MULLETS— MUQIL ALBULA AND MUGIL BBASILIENSIS. 



Names. — ^There are,upon our coast two species of Mullet, the differences between which are 

 sometimes, though not always, recognized by fishermen. The most usual species is the Striped 

 Mullet, Mugil albulaj the other is the so-called "White Mullet," Mugil branliensis. The former is 

 the larger, and has eight instead of nine rays in the anal fin, and forty-two instead of thirty-eight 

 scales between the gill openings and the base of the caudal fin. There has been so much confusion 

 among writers regarding the species of this family upon our coast that it has until very recently 

 been impossible to define precisely their geographical range. The Striped Mullet occurs in the 

 West Indies, the Gulf, and from Southern California to Chili, the other species from Southern 

 Massachusetts to the West Indies, and from Lower California to Peru. A single specimen of M. 

 brasiUensis, was taken at Provincetown, in November, 1851. North of New Jersey the capture of 

 a large individual is very unusual. In July great numbers of them, about an inch in length, have 

 been observed on the Connecticut coast, especially in the vicinity of Noank ; the fishermen there 

 call them by the name of "Blueflsh Mummichog." Gn various parts of the coast they have 

 special names, which, however, do not appear to refer to special peculiarities. About Cape 

 Hatteras the names "Jumping Mullet" and "Sand MuUet" occur; in Northampton County, 

 Virginia, "Fat-back," and in Southeastern Florida "Silver Mullet" and "Big-eyed Mullet." 

 The name "Fat-back" is also in use, but whether this name is used for Mullets in general, or simply 

 for those in particularly good condition, I have been unable to learn. In the Gulf of Mexico the 

 Striped Mullet is known simply as the "Mullet"; the other species as the "Silver Mullet." 



General habits. — There are seventy or more species of Mullets, one or more of which are 

 found on every stretch of coast line in the world in the temperate and tropical zones. They live 

 in the sea, and in the brackish waters near the mouths of rivers. They, like the menhaden, 

 though indeed to a still greater degree, subsist on the organic substances which are mingled with 

 the mud and sand on the bottom. 



"In order to prevent the larger bodies from passing into the stomach, or substances from 



' Sex — haleo-=Kmg of Herring. 

 29 V 



